Audio version Intention set. The right hand, facilitator of a magical moment, accurately holds a paintbrush, like a master of their craft, before submerging the hairlike bristles into water. Upon completion, the left hand is activated and the fingers, in a tight pinching grip, squeeze out excess liquid. Here the process of energy transfer begins as the bristles are made to become well acquainted with the tightly compact high density paint. The interaction occurs and the bristles reemerge blushing a fiery red of defiance. As the ember-like pigments, clinging to the bristles, are brought towards paper already stained with bright yellow circular splodges of sunshine, the fire is extinguished replacing the anger of the red with radiating pride. As the red engulfs the yellow, the newly formed cell immediately splits under immense force. There, an orange mane of the king of a pride of lions takes form, gently caressing the forehead of King Shiloh, who sleeps unbeknown to this preminantion of his destiny. Washing his face with a cerulean blue, his mother instils humanity in her son, to ensure he remains cool and level headed in spite of the greatness in his reach. With her brush, transfixed by the energy that the child emits, his mother is fully able to document his present state and his destined future, with ink, water and paint. This boy is sweet like the juice of a tree ripened mango, skin bleeding the green of nature. However, with full knowledge of self, will lead his people towards self sufficiency with the fight of a warrior much like his great grandmother, a founder of the Luton Carnival. His mother Tamara Nkrumah will guide him through his journey, a paintbrush at the ready to document any changes as they occur.
A self proclaimed visual learner and astute student of black history and culture, Tamara Nkrumah is an artist on a bold mission. Having pinpointed her artistic style after the birth of her son Shiloh, she has set herself a task often set by historians, to inform and educate the world about her people, black people with a focus on females. In a meeting with Beyond the Black Canvas she diligently described her mission and the intention behind it.
Talk to me about your journey into art, where does it start?
I’ve been painting and drawing for as long as I can remember. As a child I'd be putting paper together and making doll’s houses. I can’t think of a time when I wasn’t creating something.
What are your earliest memories of art education?
I can remember there was an after school art club. We seemed to just be looking at a lot of impressionist work and having to mimic it. So eventually I stopped going. My mum actually kept a drawing I had done during that time. Looking back at it I thought this is pretty good, the shading, the tones and the blending. I was thinking, 'Did I do that at 10 years old?’
Was there any point in your schooling that you remember to be the catalyst for you becoming an artist?
I don’t feel as so because, a lot of the teachers that I had were unmotivated. My high school art teacher was actually the P.E teacher. She didn’t want to be there. A lot of my educational practice was very regimented but, in my spare time I liked to experiment. Unfortunately school seemed to be a place that instilled an invalidation of children’s work.
However, I did have one teacher that influenced me. My A Level teacher- she had bleach blonde hair and she always wore Hello Kitty stuff and she enjoyed her job. She helped a lot, she kind of sparked that ‘don’t settle on the first idea’ mindset. She taught me to keep going and definitely helped me loosen up.
So you did an A Level in art, any further study?
Yes I did A Level art. I did graphic design at GCSE but it wasn’t particularly creative in my high school. I think it was during my A Level that I got more technical. I got to experiment with printmaking, oil painting and sculpture and that shaped my next journey. After school I went on to study architecture. I’m part one qualified.
Ok, so let’s think about now. Your work, your style, your practice. Talk to me about your process.
Well, I definitely will start with an idea in my mind, for example I’m going to use a papaya water colour and a brown ink. Then it develops from there. When ink and watercolors mix, I just love the way you get veins going along it. So, I may be like I want a curve here and to be honest it just does its own thing but, I appreciate it by the end. Whilst there’s some element of control within my process, there’s also that freedom and unknowingness.
How do you deal with that as an artist? That relinquishing of control.
I think I just go with it now. I’ll be honest I’ve only recently started dealing with watercolours. Maybe only 3 months before the birth of my son and I was just experimenting with it. Since being pregnant, and then having Shiloh it’s like my creative juices have just increased. I just kind of feel uninhabited. I just want to do things with him and try to set an example of just getting stuck in. I think that freedom has come with having a child.
How has your practice and relationship with art changed since having your son?
I feel like it has definitely got freer. I feel like I’ve kind of pinpointed my style as well. I feel like with watercolour you can really capture energy and that’s what I want to work with energy, emotions and fluidity. Having Shiloh helped. The first thing I thought when starting the portrait of him was how best to capture his personality. When he was born, and still now, he was such a peaceful baby. He laughs, he plays, and if he cries, it’s always for a reason. He’s very chilled and watercolour just portrayed that best. So, having him, it kind of just solidified my style.
Other than watercolours, what materials do you like to use?
I love wax pastels and ink. I’ve also dabbled a bit in digital art as well. I do like acrylic but it depends on the work. But the three I mentioned before are my go to materials.
Why those three?
I feel like with the wax pastels when it's applied to paper there's a roughness and ruggedness that allows the watercolour to creep into the crevices. If you’ve applied wax pastels and introduce watercolour, you don’t know what’s going to happen- is it going to go all in amongst it or is it just going to kind of go around it? I like the unpredictability.
Describe your style.
Cellular and fibrous, like Basquiat I’m into anatomy. I love to explore tissues and fibres and cells. That kind of reflects in how ink reacts with the watercolour. It’s kind of like the nucleus and things like that and cells combining and splitting showing energy. So I’d say my style is cellular, fibrous, feminine and energetic.
Which artists have influence you?
The one thing I took from my school education is what I learnt through Salvador Dali’s work. Although we had to copy them in a rote way, the process invited me to seek my imagination and delve into that idea. More recently I’ve been inspired by Harmonia Rosales. Her work is breathtaking, it's very hyper realistic and I just love how she captures the regalness of black features. I particularly love doing portraits now. That's my thing. I love faces, I love eyes and I feel like growing up in England I heard too many times you're pretty for a black girl. This can be damaging but, I love black features. I am black, so to see an artist depicting that I just think it's gorgeous.
How do you think race impacts your artwork or practice?
I feel like I’ve definitely got a key attention on capturing very melanated women, natural hair gorgeous features just women with strong African features. My intention is through a few creative projects to become self-sufficient so I can be in a position to be homeschooling Shiloh. I just want him to know himself, know his roots. Also, the same way my style has been found through Shiloh, my desire and want to study black history has also intensified. I am becoming more disciplined everyday so that when it comes to the point when I'm homeschooling my son Shiloh, he will have full knowledge of self.
How do you think your artwork can interplay with this journey you're on towards self sufficiency through immersing yourself in black history?
By depicting heroic figures. Right now I'm looking at heroic female black figures and I'm going to be creating a little collection highlighting Queen Nanny the leader of the Windward Maroons and looking into her Akan Ashanti roots and seeing how I can tie it into that. I'm a visual learner so I'm reading, I'm noting, I'm sketching and I'm thinking ok that will be that piece.
If you were accepted onto an artist residency, what would the body of work you created be centred around?
It would be centred around black female portraiture and emotion. Conveying different thoughts and emotions. Hopefully before then I'd be able to gather some stories from women. One of the portraits I’d create would be of my grandmother, my mum's mum. She was very active in Luton where I live. She was one of the founders of Luton Carnival. I'd love to gather stories of women much like her and capture their emotions in a portrait. I feel like I want to stick to my go to materials but depending on the length of the stay I might see what speaks to me - maybe throw some oil paints in the mix.
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